過去數十年，有關臺灣海員的研究多數著重在經濟學的思維邏輯，很少過關注在臺灣船員的文化研究，更遑論文化所帶來的影響。本研究以民族誌的方式，透過兩岸五所海事高校的文獻回顧與觀察，從學校制度、海員法令與STCW公約等歷史資料中，分析出臺灣海員文化的動態形式。
本文認為，在臺灣航運界特有的歴史脈絡中，場域結構、意識型態、父權體制與陽剛氣質等因素，都是影響臺灣海員文化發展的社會條件，而本文最大的貢獻就是拼湊出臺灣海員研究中長期被遺忘的「非正式體制」。

Over the past rew decades, the studies on Taiwanese seafarers have only been focused on economic issues without paying attention to the impact of the culture of Taiwanese seafarers’ culture and historical legacy.
The data sources in this paper are from two parts: the author's participating observation in five maritime colleges in Taiwan and china from 2011 to 2013; the analysis of history of maritime education, regulations on seafarers, and the Standards of Training, certification and Watcnkeeping for Seafarers Convention.
We contend that the specific socio-political structure, patriarchy regime and masculine seafarer culture contribute to the formation of current Taiwanese seafarer s culture, which, as the informal social relations, is neglected in the previous research on the management literatures of maritime affairs.